What Obama isn't mentioning there is that there is no clean coal technology that can replace existing coal plants. That technology is decades away, and until it appears, what we have is what we have to use.

Then we have Palin:

Palin promised the crowd at Marietta College that her ticket will not let that happen to the coal industry.

Instead, well make clean coal a reality and to help power the American economy with clean coal technology, were going to be looking to the hard-working people of Ohio and West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

So both parties are laying the future of coal power plants on the existance of "clean coal" technologyt that does not exist? Yea, expect both sides to flog the crap out of that difference.

"Really, media folks: the next time a Presidential candidate casually announces that he's going to slowly strangle the industry that provides us with half of our electrical power, cover it as it happens. Letting us run with it two days before an election is kind of contraindicated, at least from your point of view"

The technology does exist and many current coal plants are being upgraded with this technology. The two plants I know for sure that are getting the upgrades are in Madison, IN right across the river in Kentucky. These are multi-million dollar upgrades that are creating hundreds of jobs.